


With the Outcasts and Misfits

by Bookwormscififan



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, negative thinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26040991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookwormscififan/pseuds/Bookwormscififan
Summary: Virgil left the Dark Sides to stay with people who accepted him for who he was. Then he realised the Light Sides wasn't where he belonged. So where does he belong?
Kudos: 10





	With the Outcasts and Misfits

Virgil looked at the pile of clothes in his doorway. He slowly picked them up, ready to pack.

“Virgil?” He ignored the confused tone in Deceit’s voice, methodically packing his clothes into his black backpack. Unaccustomed to being ignored, Deceit walked into the room and stood to Virgil’s left.

“Virgil, what’s going on?” Deceit placed a gloved hand on Virgil’s wrist to stop him, but Virgil shook him off. He glared at Deceit, anger replacing the father-son feeling he once had.  
  


“Don’t. You know what you did. I think it’s time to move out.” Deceit stepped back, hand over his heart as if he had been shot. His shocked expression became defensive, taking a breath to defend himself.

“I didn’t do anything. I only did my job. Protect Thomas from the less… helpful sides.” Virgil snickered, breath coming out as a hiss. He threw his old hoodie into the bag, shuffling the items to make room.

“Great job there, buddy. What am _I_ , then? Just some escaped piece of uselessness?” He zipped his bag up and turned around, pushing past Deceit and walking out the door.

“That’s not – I never meant it like that! You know you broke through!” Virgil turned around and glared at Deceit. His eyes held more than anger, hurt and disappointment also made themselves present.

“Yes, and that made me an outcast in this side of the mindscape.” He turned again and resumed his path, staring forward with determination as Deceit sighed. He picked his spider up from the shared pet tank, stroking its back as he hissed at Deceit’s pet snake.

Remus looked up at the stairs as Virgil descended, putting his deodorant down. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and staring at the two dark sides with curiosity.  
  


“What’s happening?” Virgil sighed, stopping halfway down the stairs.

“I’m leaving, Remus. I’m tired of being the outcast, of living aside from you all. I’m going to make my own room, and I’m going to stay there.” He ignored the offended noise Deceit made and continued his descent.

“So that’s it? It’s over? After everything we’ve been through?” Deceit followed him down the stairs, stopping beside Remus as Virgil nodded, standing in his usual place.

“Remus, why aren’t you saying anything? Say something!” Remus shrugged, taking a bite of his deodorant.

“It’s his life, Dee. If he doesn’t want to stay with us, we can’t keep him here.” Deceit stared at him, eyes wide as Virgil smiled and focused.

“Later. Not.”

Deceit sat in his room, snake curling around his arm as he felt tears fall down his human cheek. He looked at the chest against his wall, seeing multiple photo frames of the Dark Sides through their growth.

He smiled sadly at a photo of himself carrying a baby Virgil, Deceit’s capelet replacing his blanket. As his eyes moved along the line of photos, seeing a teenage Virgil turned away from Deceit, faint blush on his cheeks as Deceit ran a comb through his hair.

The tears continued to fall as Deceit followed Virgil’s growth through the photographs. Taking his gloves off, he saw the single purple scale on his finger, picking at it until it fell off, the pain nothing compared to his heartbreak. He watched, mesmerised, as blood pooled over his skin. Quickly, he replaced the glove, watching the blood seep through the fabric, and stood up.

Wiping his tears with the clean glove, he put the scale in front of the most recent picture of Virgil: standing beside Remus with a fearful look in his eyes, dark eyeshadow making his eyes stand out.

“Why did you leave? I swear I never meant to hurt you.” Deceit looked down, sobbing as he fell to his knees and curled in on himself. His snake curled around his chest, squeezing affectionately, but Deceit ignored it.

Virgil looked around his room, tears pricking his eyes. Whether they were tears of grief or anger, he didn’t know. Patton’s card was tacked beside his clock, a bright colour against the darkness of the area.

He looked at Logan’s place, imagining him holding his ‘Yerkes-Dodson Curve’ to prove a point. _But without you at all… he’s all the way down here._ Smiling, he shook his head as he remembered Thomas’ face at his admission.

He looked at Roman’s place, watching him admire his Tim Burton posters. _You make us… better._ Virgil shook his head, wondering why he no longer believed everyone’s attempts at making him feel better.

His eyes travelled further, seeing Patton’s empty place, remembering his fear of the spider curtains (which he then changed into stars). _I am incredibly proud of you, Anxiety_. A small laugh escaped Virgil’s lips, and he bit his thumb, hypothesising whether Patton would still be proud of him.

“Patton…” Giving himself no time to doubt, he stuck his hands in his pockets and closed his eyes.  
  


Sinking out, he appeared in Patton’s room, momentarily startled by the nostalgia.

“Hey, kiddo! You ok?” Virgil looked at Patton, sitting on the couch with a book in his hand. Swallowing his tears, Virgil shook his head. Patton frowned, confused and concerned.

“What’s wrong?” Virgil took a deep breath, calming himself before answering.

“I came to say goodbye.” Patton stood up, confused.

“What do you mean? Are you going somewhere?” Virgil shook his head, clenching his fists in a futile attempt to calm down.

“Not goodbye in that sense. I tried – I tried so hard to be good, to be Light so I could be friends with you. But that can’t be. Nature always wins, whether we want it or not. And clearly, it won over me.” Patton tilted his head, not quite understanding.  
  


Virgil let out a frustrated sigh, then stuck his hands in his pockets.

“I’m a _Dark Side_ , Patton. I was supposed to be someone Deceit hid away from everyone. Somehow, with your repression and Thomas’ passion for acting, he slipped up. I made it to the open. I managed to make myself known. And that wasn’t good.” Virgil shook his head in disappointment, then began to sink out.

“But I don’t understand why–” Virgil frowned, shrugging, and rose back up slightly.

“I should go back to them. Start living with them again. I can’t… I can’t stay in my room where you guys can find me and make me feel better. It doesn’t work that way anymore. And we have to accept that.” Closing his eyes, he looked at Patton through his bangs.

“Goodbye, Patton.” Patton watched the anxious side sink out, feebly reaching toward him. He lowered his arm, dropping his bubbly façade, and let tears fall down his face.

When Roman arrived in Patton’s room to ask about something, he found the moral side curled on the sofa, Virgil’s questionable Christmas card in hand, and dried tears on his cheeks.

“Patton?” With a sniffle, Patton looked up, eyes hopeful before seeing Virgil’s place empty. He turned and saw Roman, then sat straighter and wiped his face.

“Hey, Roman.” Roman tilted his head, moving to sit with Patton on the couch.

“What’s wrong?” Patton sniffed, looking down at the card.

“Virgil’s gone. He doesn’t want to see us anymore. He’s a Dark Side, and he feels horrible about it.” Roman frowned, not seeing a problem with the revelation.

“Well, we’ll just have to go to his room and get him back, right?” Patton shook his head, face crumpling as new tears rose.

“He’s not going back to his room.”

“Where is he going?” Patton leaned forward, burying his head in Roman’s shirt as he wailed,

“He went back with the others. With the Dark Sides!” Roman froze, realising nobody knew where the Dark Sides actually stay.

“Oh.” He slowly wrapped his arms around Patton, trying feebly to comfort him.

Virgil appeared in the shared Dark room, sighing heavily as he looked around. Everything looked the same; Remus still had clothes strewn around the place, and Deceit’s snake had left shed skin everywhere.

“Virgil?” Rolling his eyes, he looked at Deceit. His spider crawled onto his shoulder, and Virgil held his hand out to hold it.

“You got what you wanted. I’m back.” Deceit suppressed a smile, moving closer to Virgil to wrap him in a hug. Virgil backed away, looking at him warily.

“Dee, don’t. I don’t deserve to be loved. I’m just as unloved as you.” Deceit recoiled, small hiss escaping his lips.

“Remus loves us, Virge. You know that.” Virgil gave a bitter chuckle, then leaned forward.

“Sure, but Remus loves himself more. Look, just let me stay here for a while. At least until the Lights calm down.” Deceit nodded, stepping back and heading to the kitchen.

“Of course, V. Your room is still the way you left it. And my snake will love your spider’s company. I’m going to get you coffee.” Virgil nodded, staring at the floor and thinking of all the ways he let Thomas down.

Deceit returned with Virgil’s coffee, sitting on the step beside his anxious adopted son. Slowly, cautiously, he wrapped an arm around Virgil, setting the coffee on the step below them. Virgil instinctively leaned into Deceit’s embrace, allowing himself to cry, dropping the calmness he had tried so hard to keep.

“I feel so useless, Dee. I don’t know what to do. I thought they would appreciate me, but after Remus showed up, I feel like some kind of monster.” Deceit shook his head, shushing Virgil and running a hand through his hair.

“You are _not_ useless. Don’t ever let anybody give you a different impression.” Virgil leaned back, giving him a doubtful look.

“You gave me that impression before I-” Deceit held a gloved finger to his lips, eyes dark.

“I never meant to, V. You should know that. Now drink your coffee, I’m going to feed my snake.”

Virgil picked his coffee up, guiding his spider back onto his shoulder, then looked around the room again, sighing. _Maybe I do belong here. With the outcasts, the misfits._

**Author's Note:**

> I enjoyed writing this!   
> If you enjoyed reading it, remember to leave kudos and comments!


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